1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to child-resistant closures for containers and to containers provided with such closures. More particularly, the invention relates to child-resistant closures provided with a tamper-evident indicating feature and to containers provided with such closures.
2. The Prior Art
It is known from U.S. Pat. No. 3,895,730 granted July 22, 1975 to Anthony J. Koehne et al. and entitled "Safety Container" to provide a container which has an externally threaded tubular neck having an opening extending through the neck to the container wherein the neck extends outwardly from the container body to threadably receive a closure. The area of the top of the tubular neck is either perpendicular or tapered downwardly from the tubular neck in which at least the area adjacent to the neck is provided with means cooperating with a locking means carried by the closure to prevent the normal rotation of the closure in the opposite direction to the downward pitch of the thread carried by the neck. The locking means is manually operable to disengage the locking means carried by the closure to allow the closure to be rotated to remove the closure from the container neck. This particular container and closure are not provided with any tamper-evident feature, a distinct shortcoming.
The U.S. Pat. No. 3,924,769 issued Dec. 9, 1975 to William E. Fillmore and entitled "Single Use Safety Closure" discloses a single-use safety closure. The closure is molded as a unitary body which includes a main body portion, a flexible skirt portion and a locking ring. The skirt is connected to the main body by a flexible circumferential ring. The locking ring is connected to the skirt by a plurality of frangible ribs. In application the closure is threaded into the finish of a jar, bottle or the like. Once tightened the closure cannot be removed readily from the finish, because of the projections locking together and cooperating to form a one-way ratchet drive. When the main body portion is moved in an opening direction, a force is placed on the projections, the skirt bows outwardly allowing one to unseal the container. The closure is not readily adapted for multiple-use type containers which may be reopened and closed a number of times, a shortcoming.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,345,610 granted Aug. 24, 1982 to Eric T. Hopley and entitled "Safety Container" relates to a container and a closure cap therefor, wherein the neck of the container is screw-threaded and is provided with at least one lug beneath the screw thread, the closure cap comprising a top, a screw-threaded depending skirt and an annular band attached to the skirt by spaced bridges. The annular band is provided with fins adapted to engage the lugs on the container neck. The annular band is deformable by radial pressure at positions spaced from the fins to increase the diameter of the band in the region of the fins such that the fins do not engage the lugs on the container neck. Any attempt to unscrew the cap from the container brings the fins into contact with stop surfaces of the lugs. Inwardly directed, radial pressure applied to the band is necessary to move the fins clear of the stop surfaces. No provision is made to provide a tamper-indicating feature.
A child- and tamper-resistant closure for a container is known from U.S. Pat. No. 4,471,878 issued Sept. 18, 1984 to Eugene F. Davis et al. and entitled "Child and Tamper Resistant Closure". The closure has a top, a depending inner skirt, a depending outer skirt (which is longer than the inner skirt) and a tamper-resistant band. The tamper-resistant band is connected to the bottom of the skirt by frangible tongues. Spaced apart, individual lugs arranged opposite to one another, are provided on the outer skirt. The bottom of the outer skirt and the band have respective pluralities of teeth which cooperate. To open the container, one must first squeeze pads to distort the outer skirt moving the lugs beyond cam shoulders, stretching and breaking the band.
Another known tamper-indicating, resistant closure is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,572,385 granted on Feb. 25, 1986 to Edward Luker and entitled "Tamper Indicating Child Resistant Threaded Closure". The closure is provided by a one piece threaded cap having a non-backoff feature. The child resistant component is provided by a squeeze and twist lock having a deflectable tab which cooperates with a radially extending container abutment spaced from the container neck. A radially extending tamper indicating block attached to the cap skirt by a frangible web also aligns with the container abutment and prevents opening unthreading until the block is removed. The nonbackoff feature is provided by an inwardly directed flange at the bottom of the cap skirt cooperating with a container bead. A similar closure is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,540,098 granted Sept. 10, 1985 to Edward Luker and entitled "Tamper Indicating Child Resistant Closure". In this case a frangible, removable tamper indicating element is provided to maintain a lock tab in circumferentially spaced relationship to a lock member; squeeze points in alignment with ramp means on the container prevent radial inward deflection and opening rotation of the closure until the tamper indicating element is broken away and removed.
A safety container which includes an externally threaded tubular neck having an opening extending through the neck to the container is known from the U.S. Pat. No. 3,895,730 issued July 22, 1975 to Anthony J. Koehne et al. and entitled "Safety Container". The neck extends outwardly from the container body to threadably receive a closure, the area of the top of the tubular neck being either perpendicular or tapered downwardly from the tubular neck in which at least the area adjacent the neck is provided with means cooperating with a locking means carried by the closure to prevent the normal rotation of the closure in the opposite direction to the downward pitch of the thread carried by the neck, the locking means being manually operable to disengage the locking means carried by the closure to allow the closure to be rotated to remove the closure from the container neck.
Other tamper-indicating, child-resistant closures are also known. Among these is a screw-type closure which is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,630,743 granted Dec. 23, 1986 to David M. Wright and entitled "Tamper Indicating Child Resistant Closure". The container is equipped with lock members along the threaded neck and a loading ramp carried on the threaded portion of the neck. The closure has concentric inner and outer skirts depending from the top and a lock tab depending from the outer skirt. A T-shaped tamper indicating means is frangibly attached to the outer skirt and to the inner skirt by means of shear webs. The tamper indicating means has a riding ramp along the inner periphery of the inner skirt to engage the loading ramp during application of the closure to the container to avoid premature removal of the tamper indicating means.
As can be seen from the foregoing text, tamper-indicating features have been provided on some closures for containers and others have been provided with child-resistant features. In a few cases both tamper-indicating and child-resistant features may be provided in the same closure-container combination as separate and distinct features. The constructional elements of such closure-containers do not serve both functions.